PROJECT SUMMARY The overall goal of the Gene Analysis Core of the Digestive Health Center (DHC) is to provide DHC investigators with fully integrated services to catalyze research on genetics and genomics using advanced instrumentation, reliable protocols, and knowledge for experimental planning and execution. The Core pursues this goal with four complementary aims. In the first aim ?to develop an integrated service structure for studies on gene sequence and function,? the Core integrates a comprehensive portfolio of services into one operational unit with a shared leadership of laboratories that provide gene-based assays and expert bioinformaticians. This structure facilitates consultation and service requests by DHC investigators. In the second aim ?to perform high-throughput gene expression and sequence assays,? the Core makes available to DHC investigators streamlined service lines that include state-of-the-art technology for gene expression (RNAseq and single-cell sequencing) and for sequence-based analysis of gene sequence and function (SNPs, DNAseq, ChIPseq, ExomeSeq, etc). In the third aim ?to provide bioinformatics consultation and analysis for genetics and genomics studies,? the Core gives members opportunities for the optimization of experimental design, technology selection, statistical analysis, and functional annotation of the large datasets produced by the Gene Expression and Sequence Laboratories. Bioinformaticians personalize analytical pipelines to meet the investigators' needs using powerful computing cluster environment and in a secured fashion by industry- quality firewall systems. And in the fourth aim to ?enable the validation of gene expression at the protein level,? the Core offers investigators the opportunity to validate at the protein level the expression of gene and gene groups using complementary assays in body fluids, cell surface, and intracellular environment. The service portfolio managed by the Gene Analysis Core has been highly subscribed by DHC investigators and has been linked to a high scientific output in peer-reviewed original publications that are relevant to digestive disease.